A1200 in a very bad way

[jimmer78]

Hi,

After getting excited about re-finding my A1200 after 10 years - bought in 93.. it has apollo 040 25 expansion 32mb ram and 2 GIG 23.5" HD


I plugged her in - black screen.....the floppy drive clicks once then nothing.


So I opened her up....took out the HD - tried again. same thing happened...the TV is getting signal but it's black. I can press the caps lock button, light comes on then after 20 sec the keyboard light doesn't respond.

Then I took out the 040 acclerator card... the f**king battery has leaked - blue gunk on the jumpers near the battery housing, some of the contacts below battery connection soldiers, some on a small chip near the battery, some on the trapdoor slot pins, and some on the small wires running from those pins.

It hasn't eaten through anything though....there's loads of corrosion on the Jumpers (for RAM, SCSI, 060) and some timing crystal solders.

Can it be fixed?? - I hate to waste a 040 card. Cant even get a replacement.

I took the card out....still doesn't boot......Then I unplugged everything plugged it all back in minus the HD and apollo card.....accidently snapped the keybopard clip in the process!! damn.

I tried it again and it booted after 15-20 sec....came up with insert floppy screen. So I tried it with the Apollo - black screen. Tried it minus apollo but with HD - black screen.


Can't believe it...... well gutted now. Dont know what to do. Can the card be repaired....is the A1200 motherboard faulty....is the HD faulty?


Can anyone help me or possibly fix this card? I don't really know what to do about it....I just want to use my Amiga again and play cannon fodder, alien breed etc!

Any ideas?

[Zetr0]

@Jimmer78

Hello, Welcome to the EAB,

you have my deepest sympathies, I had an 060 that suffered that fate, although a little worse as damp had also gotten to it..

I sent mine off to JJB in France http://www.amigacenter.com/ JJ is a great person to business with, its not cheap, its not expensive, it is what it is...

my 060 was severly damaged, not only did he repair it, but also added an extra simm socket (for 64MB action) and new battery as well... infact i think i will add some pics to your thread a bit later.

the best thing now would be to gently remove the battery. and if you have some window clearner (not the creame stuff buy like windowlean non smear stuff) and give that a little clean not tooo much just the small edge of a cloth.

its likely that the acid has killed a small IC off (the one that controls the jumpers configuration) and hence the dead screen.

unfortunately the best advice i can give is to send this to JJB, if there is nothing he can do, he wont charge you, he will also confirm with you ANY work before he undertakes it... A TOTAL PRO!

have a read here, we love him

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=24875

[jimmer78]

Great - i have sent him an email. Hopefully I can get it fixed.

Really don't know what up with the Hard drive though. I noticed the red cable has broken on lead...its a 3.5 inch HD. Is this causing the problems?

[Zetr0]

@Jimmer78

if at all possible take a picture or two of the set and problem areas and we can see if we can help

I believe pin 1 is just RESET, some HD's hang when this line is present. although i have heard some drives fail an Inquire because of its loss, so re-coupling it wont hurt owt.

what drive are you running in it?

[jimmer78]

It's a Maxtor 2 GB 3.5" .... hmm maybe I cut pin 1 when I installed the drive years ago....really cant remeber now.

Will post some pics a bit later when I get back from work.

Cheers for your help!

[TheCorfiot]

Originally Posted by jimmer78

It's a Maxtor 2 GB 3.5" .... hmm maybe I cut pin 1 when I installed the drive years ago....really cant remeber now.

Will post some pics a bit later when I get back from work.

Cheers for your help!

Hey Guys,

Pin 1 or RESET as my dear friend Zetro correctly states was usually cut on the ribbon cable feeding older HD's due to their spin up time taking too long for the amiga to boot succesfully.

Your 2GB HD may not actually have a bad spin up delay and has possibly just inherited the cable from a previously installed older drive.

I personally have not encountered any issues with HD or CF if this line is disconnected but others may have.

Good luck with the clean up...

[_ThEcRoW]

Hmmm, i heard recently about a russian amigan who send his ppc card to jjb and didn't do anything to the card because he said it wasn't nothing to do, and told the guy he could sell it to him for 30euro or shipping back to him for 50. It sounds to me a bit rippy.
Having to pay 50 euro for recovering your hardaware when you sent it for about 4 eur seems a total ripoff to me.
Anyway, i personally haven't done any deals with him, but people would have that in mind before sending him any hard.

[Zetr0]

@The Crow

Heys long time no read! where have you been hiding? LOL,

in JJ's defense, sending ANYTHING recorded to Russia is bloody expensive!!!!

do you know whom it was ? any linkie?

@TC

ahh my friend, where have you been hiding?! I still need to PM you details on how to build a VERY simple JTAG programmer, i have plans (its virtually passive from the parallel) and should take but 10 mins to make... alas the software you need to download is around 2.4GB LOL but hey... its free from xlinix... and expect a PM with luscious linkies shortly

@Jimmers

Excellent, I just LOVE hardware pr0n , no need to thank me... just keep posting hardware pics and imma happy zetty for sure

[_ThEcRoW]

Hey. hello matey, i habe been very busy at work and haven't had the time for wander around here. I simply said what i heard by another amigan. It was not too long ago on a.org, and it spoiled me that the person said that it took to him only 4 eur to send and then, they asked him 50 eur for return, and that sounded weird. As i said, i haven't had any deals with amigacenter and cannot say anything first hand, but only quoting that case.
On another hand, i'm preparing some hardware pr0n of my apollo card when i finally got the heatsinks needed for heat dissipation. Stay tuned Z!!!!

[Zetr0]

Originally Posted by _ThEcRoW

.....
On another hand, i'm preparing some hardware pr0n of my apollo card when i finally got the heatsinks needed for heat dissipation. Stay tuned Z!!!!

I feel loved today!!! whooohoo

[TheCorfiot]

Hey Zets,,,

Been keeping a low profile mate the last 2 weeks have been difficult, my wife had to have a minor operation but is recovering well.

Look forward to the PM mate, Soldering Iron is ready to go....

Best Wishes

[Boot_WB]

My experience:

JJB also charged me 50 Euros to send a CSPPC back to the UK - after he was unable to repair it.

I'm happy that he took a good look at it, but when I got it back the flashrom chip was desoldered from the card, and I had to solder it back in place myself - not easy, as the pins are very fine pitch.

He did reply to my e-mails when I was asking detailed questions about what had been tested, and where the fault may lie.

I'm not trying to paint a bad picture of JJB, I've heard lots of good accounts of him repairing damaged cards, but in my opinion it is misleading to say that he will look at the card "for free" when he charges so much for the return postage.

All in all, I'd only send a broken card to JJB as a very last resort in the future.

[DoogUK]

For apollo's, you should have a chat with PG over at amiga.org.....he repairs and upgrades them and i've never heard anything but good about his work.

[TheCorfiot]

I Wish I had an apollo 040, never mind one to repair

[DoogUK]

Awww Bas, mines still extremely clean .

When i can afford it it will be off to PG for the 060 upgrade although i have a spare 040@40 mhz i was considering swapping it to.

[jimmer78]

Ok Guys heres some pics of the damage:

http://www.tranquilfury.co.uk/images/apollo-1.jpg

http://www.tranquilfury.co.uk/images/apollo-2.jpg

http://www.tranquilfury.co.uk/images/apollo-3.jpg

I was just wondering if I can get hold of PG...could he possibly replace the 040 with an 060 (if the card is repairable?) how much would that be?



also, just had email from amigacentre, france - he said that he charges 15 euro per kilo (french postal rates) to return an item?

[Paradroid90]

Indeed PG is a great guy and does a good job.

Sorted my Apollo 1260 before xmas

Card could not see the EDO ram.

Sorted the problem and posted back within two weeks with a cpu fan in place!

cant be bad

PG top bloke!

[Zetr0]

@Jimmer78

PG can be gotten hold of on www.amiga.org (i think thats his regular haunt )

Thanks for the pics, and most certainly can see the issues...

I am not sure PG can do much with that damage, but I am sure that a PM to him will confirm that.

Still although JJB Amiga Center is not cheap, I can only swear by the service i received, which was wonderful!

my Apollo 060 was in such a state it makes the one you have look like a stock photo!

But indeed, always wise to have your options open.

Best of luck with the repair

*my fingers are crossed for you*

[DoogUK]

I would remove that battery post haste to avoid further damage then wash of the residue.

[jimmer78]

cant get battery out - the clip has corroded bonding it in place!

looks like my A1200 doesn't like my HD either now - just will not boot with it attached (black screen).

It works with no add-ons present...just managed to boot it up and play pinball dreams - so cool - forgot what it's like....thats like the first time I got in working since 1998!

All I gotta do now is sort the apollo card and get a new HD....and wb 3.5 maybe...